April 14, 2010

Arhaus Photo Contest

I recently won a Facebook contest and was able to treat some friends to a Happy Hour at D’Vine Wine Bar in downtown Cleveland.

There are lots of contests out there and since I’m feeling lucky I decided to enter the “Show us YOUR Arhaus Contest” for a $100 gift card.  We love Arhaus Furniture and are very lucky to have the Clearance/Outlet Store in the area.  We have some Arhaus pieces in almost every room but I entered a picture of our dining room set and of course Brownie’s dog bed that matches ours.

If you have a Facebook account, please like (vote) the picture of our Dining Room and Bedroom.  Feel free to vote for both, you just need to “Like” the pictures.  Contest runs until April 30th.  (If you are looking at this at work, tell your friends!)

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Filed under New Home

April 11, 2010

2 year blogging anniversary

We started The Beal World: Cleveland on April 11th, 2008 and this is the 303rd post.  It’s a lot of work but I love doing it.  I thought this was something that Kurt and I would both do but so far I’ve authored all 303 posts.  Sometimes I feel like no one looks at it and then I hear a compliment about the cute videos or fun things we do as a family.  I especially like when life-long Clevelanders tell me how we do things here that they didn’t even know about.  Cleveland is a great city that gets a bad rap and we are very happy here.

We added Baby Beal World this year and I think Beal’s Meals in year 3 will be just for recipes and things I cook for us versus restaurants in the area (there are already a lot better blogs just about the Cleveland food scene).  I know in year 2 I wasn’t very good about updating regularly but I promise I’ll try to do a better job.  Thanks for reading!

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Filed under Beals, Cleveland

April 11, 2010

Finger foods

Henry is getting to be such a big boy and ready to eat more than the baby purees I make him.  I recently gave him part of a meatball (made with grass-fed beef of course) and he gobbled it right up so I knew we were ready for meats.  This week he started on chicken & thyme and he loves it, especially with apples mixed in.  He’s also started to eat more finger foods and some of the same stuff that we eat too.

I think his Uncle JonPaul really won him over when he gave him apple pie and ice cream last week!

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April 11, 2010

The 2010 Lenten season

Giving up coffee and soda made the 6+ weeks of Lent really, really long this year!!  I made it though and was able to survive on tea.  This year the Friday night fish frys were even better than 2009.  We went back to Amber Oaks and it was so much better.  I like that you can order family-style for the table because the fish came out crispy and hot.  We tried Around the Corner again this year and it was awful.  Soggy and the Great Lakes Christmas Ale batter wasn’t nearly as good as I remembered.  The pierogies were delicious though.  We also tried a few new places like Sterle’s Slovenian Country House, Grovewood Tavern, and Prosperity Social Club. All 3 places were great.  Sterle’s was okay food but a fun atmosphere and was recently on the Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives”.  Grovewood is one of my favorite restaurants in Cleveland but we don’t get there very often because its on the east side of town.  This was my first trip to Prosperity Social Club in Tremont and I can’t wait to go back.  The menu was unique and they had a great beer selection.  Plus you can play games there.

I love Cleveland for all the great fish frys and it makes Lent so much fun on Fridays!

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Filed under Cleveland, Holiday, Restaurants

April 11, 2010

Take me out to the ballgame!

The Indians opened the 2010 baseball season in Chicago against the White Sox.  Since we were already going to be in Chicago for Easter we decided to stay a couple extra days and go to the game.  Uncle Tom, Aunt Sue and Jennifer (just in from her trip to Greece) were nice enough to invite us to be their guests.  The seats were great and the weather couldn’t have been nicer.  Unfortunately the Indians lost 0-6 but I didn’t mind.  I love going to baseball games for the beer, hot dogs, peanuts and great company.

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Filed under Chicago, Family, Indians, Sports, Travels

April 11, 2010

Easter 2010

This year the Beal family all headed to Chicago for an Easter weekend hosted by Katy & JP.  In standard Beal family-style we did a lot of sitting around, drinking eating, and talking about our next meal.  The weather was beautiful so we took lots of walks to the park and my favorite, Whole Foods.  Asher & Henry were so cute together, we are really looking forward to when they are both walking.  We also got a visit from Chris Flanagan and his son Lance.  Most of our other friends were out of town for the holiday.

Lots more pictures from the weekend on our Flickr! account including s couple of Henry in his dapper little Easter outfit.

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Filed under Beals, Chicago, Family, Holiday, Travels

April 11, 2010

Our grownup night away

There are lots of places that we can visit from Cleveland by car.  Last year we went to Niagara Falls and Niagara on the Lake and this year we decided to go to Lake Chautauqua and Salamanca, NY.  I wanted to go for the gambling and spa and Kurt was sold on the trip when he found out Eddie Money was playing at the Seneca Allegany Casino & Hotel.  The casino is located right next the Allegany State Park and it was beautiful to be in the hills there this time of year.  Unfortunately this wasn’t one of luckier trips to the casino but we had a lot of fun and got our blackjack and roulette fix in for at least a few months.  Kurt and his buddies love Eddie Money and we’ve been to his shows before but it was a weird venue and the poor guy is getting so old.  On our way back to Cleveland we stopped and had breakfast at a cute diner, The Bemus Point Inn, in Lake Chautauqua and drove around to see the area.

Not sure where our next road trip will be but I think I want to get this book, Ohio Road Trips: 52 Trips–more Than 500 Fun and Unusual Getaway Ideas in Ohio! to get some more ideas.

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Filed under Cleveland, Travels